With more than two million page views and more than 4,500 items, this blog provides news and commentary on public policy, business and economic issues related to the $3 billion California stem cell agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM). David Jensen, a retired California newsman, has published this blog since January 2005. His email address is djensen@californiastemcellreport.com.

Friday, April 15, 2016

UC Davis stem cell scientist and blogger Paul Knoepfler has been busy this week, posting updates on CRISPR and two persons who have been behind the drive against the research use of human emrbryonic stem cells.

Knoepfler cited a piece in Mother Jones magazine for his description of continuing activism on the part of Deisher. She was involved in the secretly recorded video tapes of Planned Parenthood officials. Among others, employees of Stem Express of Placerville, Ca., were also taped without their permission, and the California Department of Justice is investigating whether state laws were broken.

On the CRISPR front, Knoepfler has a series of links to good articles on the ongoing discussion involving the genetic modification technique. The debate continues unabated, although not in the mainstream media.

About Me

The California Stem Cell Report is the only nongovernmental website devoted solely to the $3 billion California stem cell agency. The report is published by David Jensen, who worked for 22 years for The Sacramento Bee in a variety of editing positions, including executive business editor and special projects editor. He was the primary editor on the 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning series, "The Monkey Wars" by Deborah Blum, which dealt with opposition to research on primates. Jensen served as a press aide in the 1974 campaign and first administration of Gov. Jerry Brown. (Time served: two years and one week.) He writes from his sailboat on the west coast of Mexico with occasional visits to land. Jensen began writing about the stem cell agency in 2005, noting that it is an unprecedented effort that uniquely combines big science, big business, big academia, big politics, religion, ethics and morality as well as life and death. The California Stem Cell Report has been identified as one of the best stem cell sites on the Internet. Its readership includes the media (both mainstream and science), a wide range of academic/research institutions globally, the NIH and California policy makers.